Where The Heart Is
by Drea Jackman
Summary: It's taken a long time and journeys to countless worlds through the Stargate, but three years after his adventure began, Jonas has finally returned home. [Slight Spoilers for Homecoming]


Title: Where The Heart Is  
  
Written By: Drea Jackman  
  
Email: DreaJackman@hotmail.com  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Summary: It's taken a long time and journeys to countless worlds through the Stargate, but three years after his adventure began, Jonas has finally returned home.  
  
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. Any original characters, situations, and story are the property of Drea Jackman.  
  
Dedication: Fellow Jonasarians...cause being one's just plain fun ;)!  
  
Archive: The Abydos Cartouche. Others E-mail me to lemme know where first. Thanks!  
  
Feedback: Much appreciated and craved, hehe. Thanks!  
  
Author's Note: Just another little fic that popped up from nowhere. I really couldn't help myself...and I know it's a little fluffy, but I figured Jonas' life doesn't hafta all be about angst.   
  
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||| Where The Heart Is |||  
  
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The sky overhead was as bluer than Jonas had remembered it, but the view was just as comforting. He squinted against the bright rays of the sun as his eyes panned across the horizon before him in an almost three-sixty degree view. In the distance he could make out the higher mountain ranges, still painted with a snowy blanket even though spring was now upon the continent.   
  
The rocky grey of the mountains bled into the deep greens of the forest at their base, which in turn began to blend into the lighter shades making up the grassy banks reaching out to touch the river flowing through the great valley below. Letting his hand fall away from where it functioned as a visor against the scorching sun above his eyes, he breathed a deep sigh of relief.  
  
It had been so long since he had been there - far too long. He used to come up here all the time, or at least, when the chance had presented itself. He'd missed it dearly. Being away for over a year had taken its toll and his work had kept him busy for a while after returning to the planet, but Jonas could finally breathe the sigh of relief that came from knowing he was finally home again.   
  
Originally he hadn't even been aware such a place existed, but after his initial visit, he'd come to seek refuge in the calming nature of it. It was yet another gift thanked her for. She had been a friend to him after he had been labelled a traitor, even after the other leaders had come to accept his presence, there were those who maintained their distance and glared with scorn and disdain. It took him a while to get used to it, but after a few months, her smile had come to light up his world and it was all he could think about.  
  
As his hands hung at his sides comfortably, his left formed a loose fist to let his thumb reach around and touch the inner band of the ring on his third finger. He found it was something he did subconsciously most of the time and something that comforted him when he was aware of doing it.  
  
Once, the ring had been worn on the middle finger of his right hand, as was the custom on Kelowna. It was tradition to wear the promise on his right hand until the day he offered his word to another. On that day, he would not only be bound by his promise of devotion and honour, but by the promise of loving her eternally.  
  
It was up there, in that special place, that Jonas had finally worked up the nerve to ask her. It felt like a long time ago now, but in fact it had only been a few months. After all he had gone through, to finally be back home and so very much in love…it had been the next natural step in his life and he wanted her to share it with him. He had never felt as complete as he did now, in his hideaway overlooking the world.  
  
Jonas stood there a long time, reflecting on how he'd come to be there and how he'd come to return home after so long. It had been over a year since he'd left the SGC and SG-1 behind to return to Kelowna and originally he'd felt a great uncertainty about whether he had made the right decision back then. Now, looking back at it, he was completely convinced it had been the right thing to do and Kelowna, now at peace with it's once warring neighbours, was a part of the new world named Langaria. He couldn't believe that there was a time when he had thought it would be impossible to return and yet here he was, at last.   
  
Before he could react, he felt delicate hands slide under his arms to encircle his waist from behind. Closing his eyes, he relaxed as he felt her body press against his back and her lips press a soft kiss to the back of his neck in greeting.  
  
"Mmm," he mumbled to himself and brought his hands up to cover hers, fingertips brushing the matching ring on her left hand. "… Hi."  
  
Another kiss just behind his ear and he smiled a little more, sliding his hands over hers, thumbs tracing the contours gently.  
  
"Thought I'd find you up here," she whispered, lips grazing his right ear lightly as her hands rose up over his stomach and settled over his chest.   
  
"I'm glad," he breathed.  
  
He tilted his head as she placed another kiss on his heated skin, where the lean muscle of his broad shoulders met his neck just before the hem of his shirt. Her hands slipped out from under his, leaving them to hover as he appeared too lost in her actions to react. They smoothed the material of his shirt across his abdomen and after placing one last kiss on his jaw, she leaned up on tip-toe to nuzzle her cheek against his at a more even level.   
  
"This is nice," she said finally, as if their rather passionate greeting had been one of everyday normalcy. They were still enjoying the months immediately following their wedding after all.  
  
"It is." His words were open and honest.  
  
"What are you doing up here?"  
  
Jonas opened his eyes and stared out over the view he'd come to enjoy a couple of hours ago. Leaning back into her, he crossed his arms over his stomach to take hold of hers, holding her to him in a firm hug. He inhaled, deeply content, before he replied, "Just to think."  
  
"What about?" she pressed and lifted her head to rub her jaw against his slowly.  
  
Jonas smiled and closed his eyes momentarily at the contact before leaning his head against hers.  
  
"About this," he nodded, gesturing to the vast landscape set out before them and the buildings that appeared so small and insignificant below. "About you … about everything."  
  
"And what do you think?"  
  
"I think," he began and slipped away from her grasp to turn around. Facing her, Jonas brought his arms up to encircle her waist and as she mirrored his actions, he pulled them closer until they were pressed together from that level down. He took a moment to take in every aspect of her beautiful face before continuing. "You're beautiful."  
  
"I meant about everything," she replied, smiling at the compliment anyway.  
  
Jonas didn't have to say anything to tell her his response would have been a teasing one of 'I know'. He loved the way she still blushed slightly whenever he gave her a genuinely heartfelt compliment. Before he answered her question, he felt compelled to drink in the vision before him. The way the sunlight cast the most radiant glow over her skin; the golden shine of the rays against her hair as the wind blew through the strands delicately; the sparkling blue that emanated from the eyes now fixed lovingly on his. Truly beautiful.  
  
"That I'm incredibly lucky," he answered finally, a hand skimming the small of her back to settle higher up between her shoulder blades.   
  
"Lucky?" She tilted her head, arms still resting over his, fingertips now tracing the hem at the sleeve of his T-shirt idly.  
  
"To have you and all of this … a place to call home again."  
  
"Home?"  
  
The word took Jonas aback for a few seconds as he saw the look of question in her eyes. Could it be that since he came back, he hadn't actually called it such? If that were true, he hadn't meant to. He'd always thought she understood how he felt, being forced to leave home for that year and a half, while bearing positive fruits hadn't made him truly happy.   
  
"Being back here with you," Jonas clarified.  
  
"You don't miss it? Being away I mean," she asked and ignored the wind as a sudden gentle gust blew a few strands of hair into her eyes.  
  
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss aspects of it. The things I was able to accomplish off-world there, I felt like I was finally making a difference."  
  
"You always made a difference." Her words were firmly stated with no room for him to shrug them off as polite compliments. "And you managed to do something nobody else could. The continents are finally at peace thanks to you. You made Langaria what it is and that's all you could have done."  
  
"I just helped the process. It would have inevitably come to a head some day anyway … I just happened to be there when it did," he said thoughtfully, even if being a little modest.  
  
"No more casualties of the Goa'uld. You did it without leaving anyone behind."  
  
Jonas' arms tightened around her, pulling her a little closer if it were at all possible to do so. "I almost left you behind," he said quietly, unable to hide the shame in his voice.  
  
"You did what had to be done, I always understood that," she affirmed.  
  
"I didn't have to go,"  
  
"You didn't have a choice," she said, fingertips now pressing possessively into his upper arms as her palms rested over his just above the elbow. "It's who you are and that's the Jonas Quinn I fell in love with."  
  
"When I think about that last day, looking back at everyone from the ramp … knowing I'd be leaving you behind…" he continued, airing feelings he had managed to keep fairly under control since seeing her again.  
  
"You came back, that's all that matters."  
  
Jonas sighed deeply as she leant her forehead against his and brought her arms up around his neck. Her fingers slid into the slightly longer strands of light brown hair at the nape of his neck and he relaxed into her completely. His friend and lover…his wife.  
  
"It just didn't feel right there," he said, eyes opening as he leant back just enough to let them meet hers. "It wasn't home anymore."  
  
"You don't regret leaving?"  
  
Jonas shook his head slowly and let a faint smile play upon his lips as he brushed a wayward strand of blonde from her eyes. "Not for a second," he replied and leant slowly forward, letting his lips cross hers in a brief kiss.  
  
"I love you," he mumbled against her lips, unable to finish the sentiment verbally as her lips captured his in another kiss.  
  
Breaking away, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close in a much-needed hug. He felt her bury her face in his neck as he did the same with her. Her hair ticked his nose slightly as he drank in the scent that was uniquely her. With a few things now out in the open, they could return to the lighter side of the greeting they'd enjoyed earlier and he could once again smile at the warm glow he felt all the way down to his toes.  
  
"So," he began quietly as his lips lightly brushed her earlobe and his hand slid up into her hair. "What brought you up here?"  
  
"I came to find you," she breathed against his neck, delighting in the feel of warm breath tickling her ear as his lips traced a path down her neck. "Colonel O'Neill,"  
  
"Now there's a name I wanna hear right now," he whispered briefly into her ear and returned his lips to her flesh, licking and sucking gently as he kissed his way toward her collarbone.  
  
"Colonel O'Neill," she continued with a smile at her husband's renewed playful energy, "sent me to come find you to let you know that dinner is in 2 hours and that he'd hate for you to miss his annual barbeque a second time."  
  
"Really?" he paused to ask while his fingers slipped inside the wide neck of her top to push it further toward her shoulder out of the way so his lips could venture onward in their journey across her skin.  
  
"That and it'll make Teal'c cranky if you're late. He's really been looking forward to this."  
  
At that, Jonas had to stop what he was doing. With a look of utter surprise, he straightened back up to his full height, eyebrows raised as he repeated himself. "Really?"  
  
"Of course he is. We don't get to kick back off-duty nearly as often as we should nowadays, even with five on the team, and it's nice now that everyone finally gets to be there this year," she said.  
  
"I guess it is," Jonas said thoughtfully and allowed his arms to loosen around her as he thought about it. The one before last O'Neill had thrown had been his first, but it was more of a tense experience given that it was the first Daniel hadn't been there for. The last, he always supposed, would have been a happy occasion since Daniel was back. It hadn't occurred to him that his being away on Kelowna for that year and a half would have left the gap he had later been told it had. Today was definitely one to mark on their calendars.  
  
"We'd better get going," she said and Jonas felt a hand slip down into his own, fingers entwining with his as she took the first step into the track. "The Colonel's already driving Daniel mad, teaching him the finer points of his cooking methods on an outdoor grill. He's afraid Daniel never really got the smaller things back with is his other memories."  
  
Jonas smiled and let her lead him back onto the track that led back down the mountainside. While he was aware of her continued conversation, he realised that he hadn't actually been listening as she tugged him along by the hand. He was once again mesmerised by her. As he watched her he once again counted his blessings as the warm spring breeze rustled through the trees.  
  
With a satisfied and extremely contented smile, Jonas wondered how he'd ever gotten so lucky. Hand in hand with Sam, his wife of the past seven months, he followed her lead. Taking up pace beside her, he rested easy in the happy knowledge that the old Earth saying he'd heard O'Neill joke about once did indeed appear to be true - home was most definitely where the heart was. If absence had taught Jonas Quinn anything in the last year or so, it was that his heart was firmly bound to Earth and home was wherever Major Samantha Carter happened to be.  
  
The End  
  
WHERE THE HEART IS 


End file.
